Breaking Ground

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Venedrex
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Post by Venedrex » 3 years ago

Welcome everyone!!! To kick this thing off, I'll list everyone who has expressed interest in this project, and then everyone on the list will suggest their three favorite ideas for a new plane or set. In other words, tell us what you think would be awesome as a setting or concept for a brand new custom MTG set.

Do you like Dinosaurs and prehistoric times? Make that one of your suggestions! Are you a fan of metalworking and artifice? Throw out your best idea on how to make a plane with that. Anyone feel like an entire world set completely underground, or under the ocean would be fantastic? Now's your chance! Of course, I'm sure your suggestions will be much more creative than the ones I just stated. I can't wait to see what everyone recommends for us to work on.

Things to note. You get three, yes three suggestions. This is to prevent there from being hundreds of ideas that will take far too long to sort through and judge. However, the process by which we determine the ultimate winner will be through a series of polls. Once everyone has put forward their best ideas, I'll make a new thread that will have a poll for to winnow the ideas.

In other words, we should have about 24 ideas on this thread, then a poll will take place that will select the best suggestion from each designer. So for instance, the first poll will result in each designer's two best suggestions advancing to the second poll to form a top 16. After that, the top 16 will be voted on, to get a top 8. The top eight will then be voted on, to get a top 3, and the winner of the top 3 will be the idea we use to make this set!

However, this is dependent on everyone be agreeable to this series of determinations. If someone feels this could be improved, we can certainly do things differently. The process could be made much shorter or much longer depending the opinions of the design team. We could cut out the top 16 and go straight to a top 8 if people would like, or alternatively add another round as well.

For your suggestions themselves, there isn't really any particular rules, aside from some basic guidelines. Keep it appropriate for a magic set, i.e nothing Wotc themselves wouldn't do in terms of age level and content. (However, doing something Wotc wouldn't do in terms of a unique idea is totally fine, just not something R rated or anything)
Feel free to go into as much depth as you want or think necessary when describing your idea, just use a spoiler if you have a lot to say. Try to focus on what makes your plane or set idea exciting, novel, and rich for developing a set in or around. You've got to sell it lol :)

If anyone has any questions about the process, let me know, and I'll do my best to answer them. I'll also be posting my three suggestions on this thread as well. Also if the team wants to hash things out more, or have some introductions and discussion regarding our first moves, we can backtrack and ignore this thread until we're reading to launch into things, but I'm crazy excited and ready to go so here we are. Also, there is no time limit, so don't worry about having to do this in a hurry. As far as I'm concerned we can take all the time we need on this project, so you can submit whenever your ready, no pressure.

Without further ado, the team as it stands:

@void_nothing
@SecretInfiltrator
@Krishnath
@Feyd_Ruin
@dangerousdice
@MonoRedMage
@folding_music
vendedrex


(Note if you want to be on the team and I left you out, get in touch with me.)
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Post by Krishnath » 3 years ago

Give me about half a day or so to get to it, It's midnight over here and I'm about to head to bed. Lol
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Post by folding_music » 3 years ago

(tiny little scribbles I'll replace with a proper write-up:

1. A high-artifact plane where all artifact spells cost dilute mana (this stuff: !) Tragedy occurs to anyone who planeswalks there; a folk hero from the plane is forever encased in a suit of armor which has sealed around him. The secret of the place is a swarm of microbe-sized nanites, which aren't under any antagonist's bidding but rather have become somewhat conscious and now harbor mysterious ambitions and needs of their own.

2. a focus on a single country experiencing a cultural artistic revolution. there'd be no war, only the friction between traditional classes provides tension; this'd be about establishing lots of legendary creatures and creature types not dedicated to martial pursuits. high incidence of intermingling; there'd be no merfolk village, human village, goblin village but more of a Ravnica-esque diversity in all areas. Don't have any stuffy intellectual planeswalkers show up there but emotive types welcome.

3. a plane created by Kiora's weird magical wanderlust. Not sure how this would work, I just think it'd be cool to explore an accidental version of a "Meditation Plane".

I wouldn't downvote any idea unless it was like "A culture from earth, but in M:TG" - Ixalan bugged me, Kaldheim bugs me, I'd wanna steer whatever we decided to make towards high-fantasy and away from real-world box ticking. Then again, if the most supported idea turned out to be "Sicily, but M:TG" or something then I wouldn't quit the project over it!)

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Post by dangerousdice » 3 years ago

::1:: a world who's soul is bound with powerful law magic, meaning that EVERYTHING can be taken to court.

::2:: muraganda!

::3:: ravnica vs phyrexians

of all of these, suggestion ::1:: is my favorite!

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Post by Krishnath » 3 years ago

Alrighty then, it is time.

1. The Shattered Realm: A world wherein all land masses float, literally, in the sky. Think a cross between Serra's Realm and Zendikar and you wouldn't be far off the realms appearance. Obviously, the setting would have a lot of flying creatures, but also spiders and other creatures with reach. Higher up, the floating ground becomes more sparse, while further down it becomes denser. Natural light levels vary, with more light near the top and less near the bottom. Furthest down there is no natural light at all and terrible nightmarish creatures.

2. Cave World: Exactly what it says on the tin, there is no topside to this world, it's all rock, stone, earth, and caves, all the way from top to bottom. Natural light sources consist of glowing crystals and bioluminescent fungi and plants. Imagine vast forests of giant mushrooms, waterfilled giant caverns acting as oceans, mountains consisting of titanic stalagmites (or is it stalactites? I always get their names confused).

3. Five Families: The Wedge set. Five noble families vie for control of a setting loosely based on eastern Europe. Think former Yugoslavia, the Czech Republic, Albania, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and nearby countries for climate and culture inspiration. Each of the families represent a different wedge (GWB, WUR, UBG, BRW, RGU). Most of the conflict stems from the struggle between the five groups.

Those are my three suggestions. I have more ideas, but those are the three I went with.
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Post by SecretInfiltrator » 3 years ago

  • The Re-Cut Past Shandalar: Astral Dominion Five Will Struggle, Only One Will Rule
  • The Alternate Reality of Mirrodin Pure The Sharpest Steel is Tempered in Fire.
  • Righteous War: The Realms of Light and Dark are Waging a Proxy War in he Mortal Realm for Too Long.

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Post by Venedrex » 3 years ago

1. Ocean World. A plane where, you guessed it, the entire world is one giant ocean. Merfolk, crabs, leviathans, creepy glowing fish, sharks, manta rays, if it swims or scuttles, it would be in this set. The world would be divided into major areas, represented on basic lands. Plains would represent the sunlight flat seabed floor of the ocean, islands would be normal water, swamps would be the dark abyssal areas where sun doesn't reach, mountains would be underwater volcanoes and seismic plates, and forests would be kelp and coral reefs.

Although it seems like this plane would be blue focused, I don't think it has to or should be. I think a lot of creatures, spells, and other cards can be other colors, such as a school of fish being white, or a vicious predator shark being red. The main conflict could come from different sentient races that dwell underwater, such as cephalids vs merfolk or other fish people.

2. Animal World. A plane that is a sanctuary for all sorts of different creatures, where the theme is numerous individual creature types, rather than tribes. Lots of real world animals, and maybe fictional ones too. Animals would be broken down roughly by two color pairs corresponding to broad (not scientific) groups, in other words, amphibians and amphibious animals would be U/G, such as hippos, frogs, snakes, lizards, salamanders, crocodiles. Herd animals and ungulates could be G/W, apes and wolves could be RG and so on. UW could be birds,

BG could be creepy crawlies, such as leeches, beetles, spiders, scorpions, etc. Conflict would come through animals fighting, maybe some sentient races would appear. There would be cycles of animals for each color, such as white mice, blue beavers, black rats, red porcupines, and green squirrells.

3. Gritty Steampunk themed set. Not the shiny, elegant, and delicate Kaladesh aesthetic of architecture, but the grimy, rough steel and coal fueled steam look. Steampowered mechs, victorian themes and look, as well as constant conflict and intrigue. Lots of shadows and mystery, dangerous technology that can backfire spectacularly, artifacts everywhere, and brutal backstabbing and politics to top it all off.

Themes of pollution and rust would also come up as well, urban decay and so on and so forth. Might add more as I think about it longer.
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Post by void_nothing » 3 years ago

Not a bad idea in the bunch thus far.

1. Megastructures world - A plane dotted with mysterious, gigantic, advanced machines and buildings that sapient beings on the world are periodically compelled by a mysterious force to build en masse. (Think Miraak's structures around the All-Maker Stones in TESV: Dragonborn.) Each culture builds specific types of megastructure but none of them is even close to figuring out the purpose of even their own constructions. The plane is peaceful enough besides this but this drive to build that no one can resist, and the ultimate results, are troubling to everyone.

2. Druidic world - A plane where civilized magic is dampened and spells connected to nature are greatly strengthened, resulting in mages of all five colors living a druidic lifestyle in deep connection with the land and natural life.

3. Innistrad Frozen Over - Something is making a baleful winter spread slowly over Innistrad well out of season. Humans and monsters face either adapting or dying while new terrors stalk the blizzards.
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Post by MonoRedMage » 3 years ago

1 - Epic fantasy world. Not really sure how to explain this one except by saying think of the Silmarillion. Or Wheel of Time. All the high fantasy tropes writ large. I'm trying and failing to make this one not sound just like Eldraine without the fairytales lmao.

2 - World of temperature extremes with some regions being extremely hot and some extremely cold.

3 - Wildlands of Theros, focusing on primarily the monsters.

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Post by void_nothing » 3 years ago

Everyone's just been firing on all cylinders, wow. I'm impressed. @Feyd_Ruin alone has yet to weigh in yet I think (but the big boss is probably pretty busy).
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Post by Krishnath » 3 years ago

void_nothing wrote:
3 years ago
Everyone's just been firing on all cylinders, wow. I'm impressed. @Feyd_Ruin alone has yet to weigh in yet I think (but the big boss is probably pretty busy).
I posted less than half my ideas, I had to cut it down to just three after all. If I was allowed, I'd probably have ended up with something like ten or twelve. >.<
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Post by Venedrex » 3 years ago

Hey everyone, I just wanted to say that I think your suggestions for sets are awesome, and I was so inspired by your ideas that I couldn't resist making some quick (rough) mockup cards based off the info you shared, I was curious to see how these concepts would look on cards, and I have to say, yall knocked it out of the park. My designs are definitely rough, but I think they show just how much potential each and every one of these plane ideas have.

When Feyd Ruin makes their suggestions I'll make a mock up for one of those ideas as well.

Cave World:



Icy Innistrad:



Mirrodin Pure:



Artifact World with diluted mana:



Muraganda:



Wilds of Theros:



Marit Lage's return:

Last edited by Venedrex 3 years ago, edited 9 times in total.
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Post by dangerousdice » 3 years ago

how does a sand person fit in a prehistoric plane?

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Post by Venedrex » 3 years ago

That is an excellent question that I do not have a good answer to. I can retool the card for you really quick, I grabbed some art that I thought fit the design and was so excited with the idea of using morph for vanilla creatures I forgot about the logistics of a sand person on a prehistoric world.
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Post by Krishnath » 3 years ago

dangerousdice wrote:
3 years ago
how does a sand person fit in a prehistoric plane?
Ever heard of Atlantis? Mu? Lemuria? Same idea, remnants of places of myth and legend.

Incidentally, there are indications that there have been ancient civilizations prior to historic records.

Also, Conan is basically that. It takes place during the Hyborian age, A mythic age which was prior to recorded history.
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Post by void_nothing » 3 years ago

Well that would be something we would hash out in the creative.

Obviously Venedrex was just making speculative mechanical designs and not trying to prescribe the flavor; if we wound up deciding we wanted any of these in the final set I know they'd get a flavor review as well.
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Post by Venedrex » 3 years ago

It should be updated to something more fitting the plane now. :)
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Post by dangerousdice » 3 years ago

thank you! sorry if I sounded rude, but I was confused on whethever it was referencing something or not.

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Post by Venedrex » 3 years ago

No problem! It was confusing, and I apologize for not getting the flavor right the first time. I think the new version does a much better job of conveying what Muraganda could be about, which was the whole point of the design.
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Post by Feyd_Ruin » 3 years ago

I missed the first @ :o
Sorry

1. Pure Phyrexia
New Phyrexia was originally supposed to be a set that had only Phyrexians, but they opted to add Mirran fighters to it in the end. I've always wondered what that could be like, although I'd want this set to take place in the modern-day storyline. Modern day Phyrexia, right after Vorinclex goes back - but no Mirrans. Just pure phyrexian madness.

Urabrask is currently missing, presumed dead. But what if he showed back up to battle the other praetors and wage war on them? Although he believes in the phyrexian process, he believes in Freedom more. He believes that people should be able to choose to be compleated, not forced — he was dethroned because he was safeguarding Mirrans. Perhaps Vorinclex, who also doesn't quite fit in either, is aligned with him? Maybe Vorinclex's secret Kaldheim mission was for Urabrask, and was made possible by Tezzeret, who is playing both sides in hopes that the war will destroy them and allow him to ascend to the throne as the new Father of Machines. We'd have Norn, Gitaxia, and Sheoldred (WUB) vs Urabrask and Vorinclex (RG) — the elegant true believers vs the strength-driven "compleation is a tool" side.

2. Marit Lage Awakens
Marit Lage has long slumbered, since the time of the Ice Age. Her followers have dwindled in numbers, but not in their devotion to her. When a mysterious outsider joins their ranks, Marit Lage begins to stir... Has the day of her glorious return finally come?
Although set on the familiar Dominaria, we haven't really visited Terisiare since Ice Age/Cold Snap. We could play off some existing cards, while fleshing out who Marit Lage is, what she's like, etc. It's been fairly vague, and we can answer the question: is she an eldrazi?

3. Underground World
The entire plane is set underworld. Massive caverns, underground seas, etc. Magical crystals glow brightly, giving rise to actual forests in many locations. Luminescence. Shadow magic. Stone mages who move the world around them to form the major cities.
OMG. I wrote this out and THEN went through the other suggestions (I didn't want to be influenced). Then I read that @Krishnath had basically the exact same thing, even with glowing crystals...


3. Space Set
Three worlds encircle each other, and much of the story revolves around the trade and travel between them. We'd have Space Ports, but don't imagine machinery. Imagine magical sky ships — like the Weatherlight. Flying Vehicles, space pirates, etc.
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Post by Venedrex » 3 years ago

No problem, those are some neat ideas!
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Post by dangerousdice » 3 years ago

if we go through with the cave world, geomancers WILL be a must.

EDIT: in case it wasnt clear, my favorite of the bunch (other than my own) is cave world! I especially like tunnel!

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Post by SecretInfiltrator » 3 years ago

Feyd_Ruin wrote:
3 years ago
3. Space Set — Three worlds encircle each other, and much of the story revolves around the trade and travel between them. Space Ports, but with magical sky ships — like the Weatherlight.
Ha! My third option was toss-up between what's there now and "two planes develop inter-planar travel and meet up". I think, I like the fact that your version expands it by a third plane and makes the setting one of established relations. : )

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Post by Krishnath » 3 years ago

Feyd_Ruin wrote:
3 years ago
OMG. I wrote this out and THEN went through the other suggestions (I didn't want to be influenced). Then I read that @Krishnath had basically the exact same thing, even with glowing crystals...
You know what they said, great minds think alike....
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Post by Venedrex » 3 years ago

Hey everyone, are we about ready to vote, and if so, do y'all want to vote in this thread or another. Secondly, is everyone cool with voting for their favorite two planes suggested by one person, or would it be better to just pick one? Thirdly, do we want to make some more test cards for the other two ideas of each member, or go ahead with the voting? Essentially we can go straight to a top 8, then a top three, then the winner, or we can have a fourth round of the top 16.

I also want to clarify that the test cards are not meant to be a concrete explanation of what any given idea will look like, but rather just some exploratory design that will almost certainly change very early on in the process. So don't make your decisions off of my stabs in the dark, but focus on the descriptions of the plane or set from the people who suggested them. Don't think that because the test cards are a certain way that the plane will be that way, the cards were just meant as a fun example to help get our brains turning with possibilities.

Basically I just want make sure that before we proceed everyone feels like their ideas got a fair shot, so if there is any concerns about the process we can hash it out before we vote.

My initial idea was to have us choose are two favorite ideas of each participant, forming a top 16 and cutting one idea from each person here, then going to a top 8 made up of one idea voted chosen for everyone from the top 16. Once we got to the top 8, we'd pick three ideas from three separate individuals again, and that would be the final round. If that sounds fair we can proceed, if not we can talk it over here.

Thanks again for participating, and I'm gonna try to mention everyone on the team here so we all see this!

@void_nothing
@SecretInfiltrator
@Krishnath
@Feyd_Ruin
@dangerousdice
@MonoRedMage
@folding_music
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